Nocturne Wine and Whisky Bar

Nocturne has a great ambiance. It’s pretty spacious for guests and everything is modern and clean. It’s a great place for those that plan to only drink wine or whisky and NOT cocktails. Reason being Nocturne has a pretty extensive list for wines and whiskies, but they can only make one handful of cocktails including old fashion, mimosa, and a pineapple version of mimosa (can’t recall what they call it but it’s similar to mimosa). I’m a cocktail kinda gal when I go out, unless I had already plan ahead of time to go with just wine or just whisky. I also tend to judge a place on how good their bartending skills are, thus for Nocturne, it was not anything to judge or base it on especially when the woman couldn’t really tell me the difference between their mimosa orange drink vs. their mimosa-​like pineapple drink but that one is orange and one is pineapple (which I already knew from reading the menu…).
Oh yea, beware that there is a $ 200 minimum per person here. Not to say that $ 200 is hard to hit in HK since drinks in HK are easily $ 105 – 150 per pop, but when I was already disappointed in their cocktail selection after venturing all the way out there on a rainy day, I was planning to change venue and check out another place but was then forced to stay due to the minimum charge that I was not aware of when I sat down and ordered my first drink. Not a huge deal, but definitely would have been nice to know ahead of time. I was not having this place towards the end when the male bartender started speaking to us in Chinese, I talked back in English as if I don’t speak any Chinese at all, but then he just kept speaking more Chinese but just towards my friend and ignored me. Nice one.

This is my new favorite bar. I almost didn’t want to Unilocal it but I felt like I should contribute to the Unilocal HK cause. I always walked past this place not really knowing what it was– and when a friend recommended coming over for a chill Friday night drink, it was love at first sight. The place is similar to a speak easy– but I noticed they decided to put their name on the front now.
The place has their menu and descriptions on a Samsung tablet. (True Japanese would use Sony!) However if you are Samsung illiterate like myself, you can always ask the kind people at the bar. The Japanese lady had recommended some different whiskeys that we have never had and it was delicious.
On Monday-​Thursday they also offer a Japanese and Taiwanese whisky tasting at an affordable price. Thats right– KAVALAN TASTING! Go Taiwan!
Service was great and it was chill which is rare for HK on a Friday night. I will for sure be recommending my out of town friends and whisky lover friends to check this place out.

Nocturne is one of those places where you can easily become a regular. At least in my opinion, I would love to be able to come here regularly.
They are nondescript from the outside, if you didn’t know where you were going, you could so easily get lost. It is just behind a wooden door and a stone wall with a small window where you can barely see what’s going on inside.
When you go in, you are greeted by a Japanese lady. The few times I have been here, we sat at the bar. It’s my favourite thing to do. This bar is full is Japanese malts and whiskies, as well as other scotches from different regions.
I usually like to tell the japanese lady what I prefer and let her recommend, however the last time i went, i realised that they have a new e-​menu which gives you all the descriptions of the drinks.
The bartender is extremely knowledgable and knows exactly what she has and what is suitable for each person.
I have never been upstairs but was told it’s a wine bar. Since I am more of a whisky person, I just stay downstairs.
The bar is not very big and only have a few seats, so on weekends normally it is quite busy. The downside of it is that… it closes too early for a bar! If only they stayed opened later.